


Princess Protection Program

by hollandroden



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Met on the Ark, F/M, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Protectiveness, The Ark Station, clarke has a crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 12:05:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4434842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollandroden/pseuds/hollandroden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her feet halted in place, her head turned and Clarke was staring into the face of a guy who she was sure would either kill her or take her virginity -she hadn’t quite decided on which one yet. </p><p>or Clarke gets attacked for being privileged and is assigned a guard to watch her at all times. He likes to call her Princess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Princess Protection Program

**Author's Note:**

> I've been on a bellarke streak im so sorry i dont know what this is
> 
> timeline is slightly different from the show so octavia wasn't found at like 13
> 
> no beta so if there are errors I'm so sorry

It was the day after Clarke turned seventeen that was was attacked by a knife wielding, bitter and angry man. He caught her off guard as she raced towards her room trying to get back before curfew, he jumped out from seemingly nowhere and swung out at her violently. Luckily her reaction was to duck so she ended up not having her throat slit. Which was nice.

Guards soon arrived at the sound of her screams, saving her from the lunatic and possible death. She made a mental note to send them all thank you messages the next day, seeing as she was too shaken up to possibly write anything comprehensible at the moment.

Clarke marked the whole event down to a ⅗ on the terrifying chart because other than the one swing, the man sucked at trying to kill somebody -she knew she could have taken him. Her parents on the other hand were not having it. Abby Griffin nearly starting seizing when the guards led Clarke home so they could report the attack to her parents. At least that’s what they called it, she called it tattling.

“Clarke are you alright?” Her mother cupped her face in her hands, eyes scanning every visible surface area of skin. It wasn’t like she’d been actually harmed, Clarke didn’t understand all the hullabaloo. “What exactly happened? How did it happen? Why?”

Peeling her mother's hands away from her Clarke quipped, “Mom calm down it was an accident.” Well they all knew that was bullshit but she really didn’t want this to be made a big deal when it didn’t have to be one.

The older guard ignores Clarke’s comment, looking directly at Abby he tells her about the man and his knife and apparently the reason he was swinging it at her. “Because she’s our daughter? Why would he do that?”

Withholding the sigh that threatened to escape her Clarke waited for the guards to clue her mother in on the incredible imbalance of privilege on the Ark. She was the daughter of the Ark’s head engineer and Doctor, her mom was on the council, she had a little more leeway than most kids did. Her family was considerably more well off than some of those who worked all week doing jobs they hated and never had any extra rations to spare.

“Well Mrs. Griffin, he was angry that his position on the Ark wasn’t held in as high regard as yours or your husbands.” The guard bowed his head slightly so that he didn’t have to watch Abby’s face contort into anger. “He felt as though you needed to feel the same pain he felt so he attacked your daughter.”

“There you have it,” Clarke was grinning like she’d won a prize -perhaps the award of freedom- but Abby saw nothing to be happy about in the situation. “Mom I’m okay please don’t make a big deal out of this.”

The shock in her mother's face was laughable, as if she’d practiced it in the mirror a hundred times. Clarke did have to admit she was being more sassy than usual but she was tired, she wanted to sleep and this was wasting her time. “Clarke, I can’t let this happen again.”

“Your mother's right.” Her father decided to step into the conversation with extreme caution. “Your life is more important than you seem to think it is Clarke.” She didn’t have a snappy comeback for her father -whom she admittedly had always been closer to. Jake turned towards the two guards standing firm behind Clarke like she was about to make a run for it back into the hallway. “Is there anything we can do?”

The old guard who smelled like something she’d find in her mother's medical cabinet responded, “I suggest around the clock monitoring.” Clarke jumped away from them in surprise. They couldn’t be serious? “We could assign a guard to follow your daughter around like a personal bodyguard until any threat is cleared.”

“No!” Clarke protested, stomping her foot down like a nine year old girl who just wanted to stay up past her bedtime. “He’ll be annoying the whole time! I can’t live like that!” She checked her parents faces because there was no way they could have been buying it but apparently they were considering it.

With a stern expression Abby asked, “Can you really do that?”

“Mom!”

Jake placed a hand on Clarke's arm, “I’m sorry Kiddo but this is for your safety.” It didn’t matter that she’d never fought with her father before, Clarke wretched her arm away in anger. His face fell but he made no more moves to touch her, perhaps for the best. “If we do this, can you assign somebody that won’t bore my daughter to death?”

Clarke scoffed at the audacity of it all. “I’m fine!” Nobody listened to her.

The guards exchanged glances, speaking through nonverbal communication seemed to be key in their line of work. “There is one guy that’s been here for only a couple years. He’s dedicated, but he’d young enough that he might understand your daughter's world.” Clarke wanted to hit the old guy -she wasn’t a subspecies.

“Send him here in the morning.” Abby demanded and that was the end of that.

“I hate both of you.” She felt like a bratty teenager stomping off to her room in protest but she’d never felt so violated. This guy would be beside her constantly, she’d never get any privacy to do anything. What if he didn’t let her pee? Honestly she felt like a caged animal, and what do they do when they’re scared? They freak out.

-o-

On a normal day Clarke was out of bed early and ready for class within the hour, but she hadn’t been able to sleep all night pondering how the rest of her life would pan out with a bodyguard watching her every move. What if he was annoying? Or what if he never spoke? She supposed the second option would be better than if he never shut up. If Clarke hated anything it was a blabber mouth.

She finally checked the time to find that it was her usual wake up hour. Grumbling she slipped the covers off and headed towards the bathroom, yawning into her fist as she stretched her arms in the air. There was no doubt she looked as if she crawled out of a sewer after living there for twenty years, Clarke in the morning was truly a disastrous scene.

As she walked towards the bathroom her mother called out, “Good morning Clarke!” In a peppy tone that indicated she and Clarke were on good terms. The silent treatment was the only response she got. The day her mother and her made up would be the day they returned to the Ground -so never.

Clarke brushed her teeth with rage since she couldn’t find any other way to get out all her pent up anger. Her parents were basically making her a prisoner in her own skin and it killed her. Didn’t they understand that it was killing her? Apparently not. When she brushed her hair she was sure she’d torn out half of it before she finally placed the brush back in the drawer. Seeing the blond strands lying across the countertop she realized that she may not want to abuse herself over something that she could easily just hit the wall for.

“They’re only trying to help you know.” The voice came from the couch as Clarke walked by. She’d been peering straight ahead to avoid contact with her traitor parents but if she recalled they’d left half an hour ago. So who the hell was talking to her?

Her feet halted in place, her head turned and Clarke was staring into the face of a guy who she was sure would either kill her or take her virginity -she hadn’t quite decided on which one yet. “Who the hell are you?” She made the move to cross her arms across her chest indicating that he didn’t intimidate her despite the tingle in her toes when his eyes swept her up and down.

When he stood he was taller than her which she also recognized as a classic intimidation tactic. She had to admire that. “I’m your new bodyguard.” Apparently the face she made was not a pleasant one, “don’t worry, I’m as happy about the situation as you are.” She rolled her eyes highly doubting that. “But we’ve all gotta survive somehow.”

“How is watching me helping you survive?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

This random guard let out a small chuckle, licking his lips in the process. She wanted to smack that stupid cute look off his face. If the mixed emotions inside of her had to continue for the rest of her life Clarke wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle it. Imploding seemed like her inevitable outcome, surprisingly she welcomed the sweet embrace of death. It was better than dealing with this guy for all eternity.

“Protecting you is my job, it’s how I get ration points, how I feed myself.” There was a small hesitation before he said himself, Clarke wondered if she was crazy or if he just liked adding dramatic effect to his conversations. “I’m Bellamy.”

“Clarke.”

He smirked. God damn it, she internally cursed. “I know.”

That was how Clarke Griffin met her bodyguard and pain in the ass, Bellamy. Standing in her pajamas arguing with him about nothing in particular and inwardly crying about the amount of freckles on his face. Any way she looked at the perficient she was royally screwed. So she didn’t dwell on it, she went to school and Bellamy followed.

-o-

Clarke had perfected her answer to ‘who is this guy and why is he following you?’ because she’d been asked it about a million times. She’d smile kindly and explain that his name was Bellamy and he was protecting her after a man attacked her with a knife. Apparently the story seemed a little far fetched because a few girls refused to be believe her but she couldn’t care less.

Bellamy found it funny that Clarke was such an active student in her class. She always tried to answer questions, she asked a million herself and after every class she spent a good portion of her time before the next one making sure she was on task with that days lesson. “What?” She’d demanded when she caught him smirking.

“You’re such a good student Princess.”

He’d taken to calling her that after he had found out she still slept with her childhood plush princess doll. Clarke hated it. It was what some of the other kids called her when she was younger to tease her during recess. Wells had always been referred to as the Prince, and she was his best friend so obviously she had to be the Princess. Her probably the second most privileged kid on the Ark didn’t help the nickname much either. However, Bellamy knew none of this and she didn’t want to let him in on it. “I want to become a Doctor, I have to make sure I’m learning what I need.”

“Well,” they stopped so Bellamy could open the door for her making sure nobody was standing behind it ready to kill her, “I’m sure you’ll make a good one.

Her cheeks burned red, “Thanks.”

Surprisingly it wasn’t too bad to have Bellamy around. He was pretty easy to talk to about generally everything. She spoke to him about her plans for the future, about her mother never really having her side, her favourite books, and even about Wells totally huge crush on her that she pretended she didn’t know about. Over the course of two months she’d actually began considering him as a friend. He stood beside her -or behind, in front, it depended- from the early morning until her parents came home in the evening and dismissed him. She wondered if he thought of her as a friend, or just a stupid girl that needed protecting.

One night her parents hadn’t come home on time because there was an uproar with the council on something -probably the oxygen levels again. Clarke placed herself on the couch, wrapped in a large blanket and started to watch something on the television that had been recorded ninety-seven years ago back on Earth. Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Clarke admired her determination, her strong sense of self and her ability to fight for those she cared about. But this was her little secret. She knew that people around the Ark found the show lame because some of the earlier seasons were pretty cheesy -so she kept her obsession where it belonged, in her head.

So she was surprised when a deep voice rang out behind her, “I love Buffy.” Clarke jumped in air, the remote clattering to the ground at her movement. Of course it was Bellamy coming to protect her in her parents absence but had he just said what she thought he did?

“You love Buffy?” Her voice was unsure, bringing the blanket closer to her skin as if that would act as a shield for potential embarrassment.

Bellamy smirked, “Yeah I watch it all the time with -” he caught himself from finishing the sentence. That was an occurrence Clarke noticed a lot, it was usually followed by him sulking around for the next two hours without explanation. This time however he waved it off, “it doesn’t matter. I’m a fan of the show.”

Clarke did that thing teenagers always seemed to do and began to over analyze the situation. Did Bellamy have a secret girlfriend that he wasn’t allowed to talk about? Was she higher ranking than him and she didn’t want people to know that he was hers? Clarke thought the woman must have been mad to want to keep him a secret.

Though all that didn’t matter when he was there with her, standing only a few steps away admitting that he loved a show she had thought would get her floated. Girlfriend be damned Clarke was winning at that point. She patted the seat on the couch beside her, “Well than you can join me.” He hesitated to sit down, “oh come on I won’t bite.” His smile was electric and Clarke could look at it all day, which was odd seeing as he was so completely off limits and she’d only turned seventeen two months prior.

He sat down closer to her than Clarke would have expected from him, but hell she wasn’t complaining. “What episode are we on?”

Leaning down she retrieved the remote and pressed play, “Spike just arrived in Sunnydale.”

“Great!” He genuinely seemed captivated with the show, it pulled at her heart strings to watch him react to what was happening. He was like a grown toddler watching Buffy kick ass with his eyes lit up.

Sometime along the way Clarke’s eyes began to feel heavier, her body started to feel like it weighed more than three times it’s actual size and before she knew it she’d passed out with her head lolling onto Bellamy’s shoulder. At least she thought that was what happened, but she was asleep so one could only pray. In her head she made a mental note that he smelled like laundry soap.

-o-

“Clarke?” Her mother’s voice was soft but it was enough to bring her out of her slumber. “How are you?”

She grumbled, “Asleep.” Her mind managed to remember how she’d passed out on the couch with her bodyguard, “Where’s Bellamy?”

If she was being honest she was surprised her mother could even understand what she was trying to say seeing as her face was buried in her pillow. “He went home about ten minutes ago.”

“Am I in my bed?” She wasn’t all there yet.

Abby chuckled, “Yes Clarke, you are.”

Clarke then came to the conclusion that Bellamy had carried her in to her bed. _Carried_ her. He’d picked her up, wrapped his arms around her and then gently placed her in bed. He’d even put the fucking covers on her. The man was trying to kill her. However this was an internally realization because if Abby found out the huge crush Clarke was harbouring on her guard he’d be fired in seconds. And she wouldn’t allow that to happen. “Okay mom.”

When Abby left Clarke managed to gain enough strength to kick her feet around in joy, smiling like an idiot into her pillow.

-o-

The next ten months of Clarke’s life turned out to be a living hell.

Two months after Bellamy had brought her back to her bed safely something shifted between them. Clarke began to feel like this friendship wasn’t as one sided as he had previously believed it to be. He shared stories about his mom with her, and how he pretty much had to raise himself, he spoke about growing up in the lower class and how he was a troublesome kid that liked to get into everything. Though no matter how much he shared Clarke always got the feeling that he was keeping something to himself. She was thankful that he had become so open and in fear of ruining that trust she didn’t pry any further.

Clarke would burn bright red every time she’d make a smart ass comment causing him to put on his classic Bellamy smirk and say, “alright Princess, whatever you say.” She taught him how to play an old Earth card game named Queens but he would never remember the rules so she’d have to reteach him every time. On walks in the hallways they had a game designed that whenever they heard the word ‘moon’ they’d start violently coughing, but it always ended in both of them laughing until they couldn’t breathe and having to excuse themselves. Being around Bellamy was easy, it was fun and most importantly Clarke felt more alive than she ever had before.

But Bellamy still had his walls up at certain times and Clarke never dared push them, until she didn’t have to worry about that anymore. Two weeks after Bellamy and Clarke watched an old movie together on the couch even though her parents had come home to relieve him, Clarke found out what secret Bellamy was keeping.

He had a sister hidden under the floorboards for seventeen years.

During a masquerade dance on the Ark -that Clarke had been forbidden from attending because Bellamy was going to be used at another location and she’d rather not go than go with some other dumb guard- she’d snuck out of her home but during a protocol where they have to scan everybody’s ID’s she didn’t have one. Obviously since she was unregistered.

Bellamy never came back to her house, and a new guard was sent to follow her around. He was forty-three, had no wife or kids and smelled like oil. He stood in the corner of every room with his eyes on her, his bald head gleaming off the lights above. Clarke was positive he never smiled.

She missed Bellamy. When she begged her mother to allow Clarke to visit him on the lower levels she forbade it and made sure her the new guy -Karel was his name- knew it too.

Her sadness over the loss of her friend, crush and bodyguard was lessened greatly by the fact that her father had discovered the ship only had a few months of oxygen left before they all died. Jake Griffin wanted to go behind the Chancellor’s back and tell the people, endangering his life in the process and Clarke knew that it could mean the end of her family.

Tells Wells was the worst decision she’d ever made in her life. The afternoon after she returned home with Karel in tow -after just letting Wells in on her faminial dilemma- Jake was arrested for treason and floated.

Clarke was brought to the skybox and put into captivity because of her knowledge and that was where she sat for the rest of the year. The pain that she felt everyday was so toxic she almost welcomed the fate of death that laid before her. If she wasn’t committed to death upon her retrial than she’d certainly die within months based on the low oxygen levels. Clarke drew with charcoal a sympathetic guard brought to her, but it wasn’t enough to erase their faces from her mind. Her father, her mother, Bellamy. The people she’d never see again because of what she knew.

Life was fucked up.

She learned that fairly quickly during her time in captivity, but the release of one hundred prisoners onto a dropship destined for the Ground only confirmed her theory even more. Clarke fought her way out of the guards grasp, only to be shot with a tranquilizer and placed on the ship anyways.

In her dreams she saw Bellamy picking a faceless body off the ground and carrying them to safety. It was her, she was the body. Something in her chest began to ache at the thought of seeing him again, feeling his touch once more -not even in a sexual way. He was supposed to be her saviour, protecting her from the shitty things life had to throw at her but she discovered that some events could not be prevented.

Clarke awoke beside Wells and in that moment she realized she hated her life even more than she already did. But it didn’t matter, either they’d die upon impact or the radiation levels would just kill them all in seconds so she just had to ignore Wells until they hit the ground and she was golden.

To her surprise they didn’t die when they landed, well two of them did but she couldn’t allow herself to dwell on it in the moment. She’d build graves for them later if they managed to survive on Earth.

In the distance a female voice called out that the door to the dropship was on the bottom floor so Clarke unfastened her seatbelt and made a beeline for the latter. She knew that she’d want to be front and center for whatever they were facing out there.

Plus she’d do anything to escape Wells.

To her surprise as she descended into the below deck buzzing with the excitement and fear of the crowd she was able to hear a guard telling them all to back up and be quiet. Except there had been no guards sent down with them on the ship that she knew because the voice calling out had been haunting her for months.

“Bellamy?”

It wasn’t Clarke that had asked but a beautiful brown haired girl on the latter across from her. Clarke had been too frozen in shock to say anything, but the minute the guard turned around her insides burst with what she assumed was happiness -it had been so long since she’d felt it.

Bellamy smiled at the girl as she approached him for a hug, holding on so tightly she was sure they both couldn’t breathe. “Look how big you’ve gotten.” Clarke realized that the girl had to be his little sister Octavia.

She let them have their moment but she knew that she had to talk to him, after all he was the one friend she actually had left on the ship. Stepping down from the latter gently, her feet began making their way through the crowd until she stood merely five steps away from the hugging siblings. “Bellamy?” Clarke realized how weak her voice sounded but she didn’t give a damn at that point.

He opened his eyes when he heard his name and she saw that familiar look of joy inside of them. It was the same expression he wore when they watched Buffy or read from old classic novels together during her lunch period. Bellamy broke away from Octavia, who turned on her heels quickly to scold Clarke. “Could you give me like one second with my brother? I haven’t seen him in almost a year.”

Clarke replied boldly, “yeah well neither have it.” Octavia realized that she wasn’t about to back down and decided to look at Bellamy.

He had his eyes locked to Clarke, “It’s okay O.” The brunette took a step back which allowed her Bellamy to step forwards towards Clarke. She felt his presence embrace her, safety and security finding their way around her after months of absence. “Hey Princess.”

She chuckled at his nickname for her but all she could say was, “You’re here.” He pulled her towards him in a hug where she buried her face into his shoulder, breathing in his familiar scent. Clarke didn’t care if it was strange she’d missed him, missed her best friend and she was not so surprised to find out that her huge crush on him still remained.

Clarke knew it was crazy but she swore he smirked despite the fact that she couldn’t see him. “Yeah I’m here, don’t worry.”

And she didn’t worry about anything that happened after that. He was there, and that was all the protection she needed. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!


End file.
